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- *********** Class Struggle *************
from Workers Solidarity No 31
WHY IS THE concept of class so important to
anarchists? Why are we constantly talking about
classes and class struggle? Some of our opponents
accuse us of living in the past, they claim the
working class is dying out. After all you don't see
too many workers wandering around in donkey
jackets, cloth caps and heavy boots. So that settles
the question, doesn't it? No, it doesn't, so let us get
away from silly caricatures and get down to
basics.
The modern world, like the societies that preceded it,
does not consist of a single group of people who have
more in common than they have dividing them. Sadly
there is no single 'humanity', not yet. In every country
there is still a division of people into classes which have
conflicting interests.
Classes are defined by their relationship to the means of
production; their relationship to the factories, machinery,
natural resources, etc. with which the wealth of society is
created. Although there are groups such as the self-
employed and the small farmers, the main classes are
the workers and the bosses. It is the labour of the
working class that creates the wealth. The bosses,
through their ownership and control of the means of
production, have legal ownership of this wealth and
decide how it is to be distributed.
STOLEN WAGES
Only a part of this wealth is returned. Some is paid as
wages, some as the "social wage" (hospitals, schools,
public services, and so on). The rest is creamed off as
profit. But labour creates all wealth. An apple on a
tree is worth nothing until someone picks it, coal in the
ground has no use until someone mines it. What is
known as surplus value or profit is stolen wages.
The working class is the majority in Ireland today. All
who work for a wage, salary or commission are in its
ranks. It consists of all who have to sell their ability to
work to those in control. It makes no difference if you
work in a factory, office, school, hospital or shop. It
makes no difference if you work with your hands or your
brain, whether you wear overalls or a suit, whether you
earn 'good' or bad wages.
WHAT ABOUT THE UNEMPLOYED?
The unemployed also form part of the working class.
Social welfare payments are made to those who have
worked and those who may potentially provide some
employer with their labour power. It is a condition of
payment that a claimant is "available for and actively
seeking work". Needless to say, the partners and
children of workers are also part of the same class, as
are the retired.
The interests of the working class (wages, working
conditions, jobs, useful public spending, etc.) are in
constant and inevitable conflict with those of the boss
class. They seek to maximise their profits and gain an
advantage over their competitors at the expense of the
workers.
NONSENSE
Anyone who talks about 'social partnership', about
labour and capital working together for the benefit of all
is talking nonsense. What rights we have and gains we
have made have been the result of long and often bitter
struggles. The bosses only give such rights and
concessions as they are forced to. In times of recession,
such as now, they try to make workers pay through job
losses, cuts in real wages, cuts in public spending,
productivity deals, etc. for the crisis that is a periodic and
inevitable product of capitalism.
Although capitalism oppresses people on many different
levels, race and sex to name but two; it is the
exploitation of our labour that is fundamental to the
system. It is on this front that the fight for a new society
will be won or lost. If we can reclaim that aspect of our
lives, the system can be overturned and replaced with
something much better.
TAKING OVER
The working class are brought together in large towns
and cities. At work we co-operate with others. Each
person has to do their bit so that the person at the next
stage of production can do theirs. In the services it is the
same; in hospitals, schools and offices. This means that
the working class can be a force capable, not only of
rebelling against injustice but of taking over and
recreating society in its' own interests.
As a class we have to think and act collectively. In a
strike you need the support of your workmates and of the
workers in supplier firms. Individual action won't get
you very far. We have to co-operate. The same applies
to the mammoth task of creating a new society. We
cannot divide up an office or factory between all the
workers there. We act as a group or not at all. This
collective nature that is part and parcel of our class
provides the basis for the solidarity and mutual aid we
will need to scrap the old order and build a truly free and
egalitarian society.
POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE
However just because someone is a worker it does not
always follow that he or she will think of themself as a
worker, or realise the potential for change that the
working class collectively possesses. We all know of
workers who sometimes identify with their boss, or
unemployed people who become demoralised and totally
isolated from any sense of belonging to the working class.
And there are plenty of ignorant academics running
around talking rubbish about a new 'sub class' and a
'natural conflict' between those with jobs and those
without.
Class consciousness, an awareness of our common
interests and the potential we have for real change,
needs to be encouraged and strengthened. This is one of
the tasks of an anarchist organisation.
The struggle between the classes will only come to an
end when the boss class and the state which protects
their privileged position are overthrown. Nationalisation
or state control of the means of production would not
mean an end to class society. It would simply mean the
replacement of individual capitalists by a bureaucratic
state capitalism. Like their predecessors they would be
in control and would have the final say about what
happens to the wealth we create. Whether they like it or
not this would be the logical outcome of the statist
politics of the Workers Party, Sinn Fein and the Labour
Left.
THE WAY TO FREEDOM
Only the direct control and management of production by
the working class themselves can end the class division.
A classless society is not possible without this.
Everyone affected by a decision should have a say in
making that decision. Production in an anarchist society
would be managed by an elected workers' council in each
workplace. Planning on a higher level would be subject
to the agreement of delegates from the councils, delegates
who would be subject to a mandate from their members
and instantly recallable if they don't do the job they were
elected to do. In such a society the wealth would be
created and managed for the benefit of all. There would
be no elite of bosses or rulers. This is the vital
precondition for real freedom.
Alan MacSim?in